Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Human-Made Earthquakes Reported in Central U.S.

The number of earthquakes in the central United States rose
“spectacularly” near where oil and gas drillers disposed of wastewater
underground, a process that may have caused geologic faults to slip,
U.S. government geologists report.

The average number of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater in the
U.S. midcontinent – an area that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma,
New Mexico and Texas – increased to six times the 20th century average
last year, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey said in an abstract
of their research.

The abstract does not explicitly link rising earthquake activity to
fracking – known formally as hydraulic fracturing – that involves
pumping water and chemicals into underground rock formations to extract
natural gas and oil.

But the wastewater generated by fracking and other extraction
processes may play a role in causing geologic faults to slip, causing
earthquakes, the report suggests.

“A remarkable increase in the rate of (magnitude 3) and greater
earthquakes is currently in progress,” the authors wrote in a brief work
summary to be discussed Wednesday at a San Diego meeting of the
Seismological Society of America.

“While the seismicity rate changes described here are almost
certainly manmade, it remains to be determined how they are related to
either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas
production,” the abstract said.

Healthesound.info

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